Okay. I Lied.

So much for writing more often now that I'm retired. Why do I even say those things? I meant well....
But.
I am getting other stuff done.

Here's my latest completed project....It's called Mexican Star - a pattern by Southwind Designs.
I kept seeing this made up at quilt shows and I liked it....so I bought the pattern. That was several years ago. Year after year I would tell my sister I had that pattern whenever we saw it at a quilt show.

Finally she said, "Yes. I think you've mentioned that every year!" Ouch.
Well, today I publicly thank her for that nudge. She got me going.

I started it in January, 2012 while in Arizona with encouragement and some fabric sharing from my friend, Lynn.

I had purchased the background batik early on but choosing the rest of the fabrics was difficult.
I admit to not much liking following complicated directions and diagrams.

This one also involved turning back an edge and topstitching to get that curved look.

I machine quilted it ---stitch, turn, stitch...I am not comfortable with free-motion so this took awhile but I am pleased with it. I used a very light tone variegated aurifil and a nylon mono-filament in some places.
I marked some areas with the turquoise wash-out marker. I was nervous but did soak the whole thing when done to be sure that marker was out.

I put a sleeve on the bottom and inserted a yardstick to help it hang nicely in the changing gallery of my dinette wall.

Have any of you made this one, too?  Or...at least you have the pattern?

Scraps Come Together

34" square

I finished something!

I started playing with leftover 1.5" strips and squares some time ago. The urge to 'use them up' and have fun seeing what I could do with them has led to several quilts.
I knew I didn't want to put in the time to hand quilt this. There are too many seams and I see it being used as a baby quilt - machine quilting will stand up to harder use and frequent washings.
But that seems to be the point in a project that I get stalled.  I just am not skilled enough to decide on the design or execute it with my machine. Tops can pile up waiting to be taken to the finish line!

I settled for the wavy straight line anchoring it all on either side of the sashing and did the loopy free-motion flower I've done on several other things for inside the 36 patch.

I applied the binding by machine and then zig-zagged it for a quick and functional finish.

Next: An Announcement!

News Flash! Bull's Eye Done at Last!

53" x 69"

I promised to share my latest completed project and here it is!

Started in 2002 with a small group of quilting friends, it involved sewing three sizes of raw-edged circles onto a background square, making enough blocks for everyone in the group. After sharing them with each other they were cut into quarters and sewn back together again. I bet some of you have made the same pattern!

I sewed the blocks together right away - but didn't assemble and add borders until 2009. Don't ask!
I knew I wasn't going to hand quilt it and not being confident about my machine quilting it got pushed to the bottom of my very long UFO list.

I finally decided it was time to 'JUST DO IT'.
Does that Nike slogan ever motivate you?


First I did a wavy stitch in a grid along the seamlines using the walking foot on my Bernina 1230....
(Stitch # 3 set at 2.5 and 2.5)

It's a zig-zag in which three stitches are taken for each zig so when you manipulate the stitch length and width you can achieve this nice wave. You can play with the setting to get it more or less waved.

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Then I did free motion wavy lines within the cirles and one row around the whole circle in the background.
I must say, by the time I finished I had really improved my skills in free-motion quilting.









The back is a pieced strippy making reversible quilt!

Is than an old Jinny Beyer print? :)

I used a large plaid on the bias for the binding.

Finally..... the fun stage!!
I popped it into the washing machine on a brief cycle of low agitation, spun and drained and into the dryer to shrink a bit and fluff out those raw edges. That's the whole appeal of it to me - the scrappy casual fluff! A quick 'trim' of the ravels and voila...ready for use in the family room.
It feels so good to have it done and I really like how it turned out. Why did I wait so long?

Have you finished a nagging UFO lately?